As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to these users is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may vary with respect to the type of information handled; the methods for handling the information; the methods for processing, storing or communicating the information; the amount of information processed, stored, or communicated; and the speed and efficiency with which the information is processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include or comprise a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
The information handling systems of a network, including a storage network, may include software that is embedded in the device. The process of updating the firmware of the devices in a computer network can be problematic, especially when the devices of the network are geographically separate. Moreover, it is sometimes necessary to take a device offline during the period that its firmware is being updated. In the case of a storage drive, for example, the storage drive is removed from service during the period that the firmware is being updated. During the period that the storage drive is out of service, data cannot be written to or read from the storage drive. For many sensitive applications, however, taking a storage drive out of service, even for a short period, is not a viable option. As an alternative to removing a device from service, it may be possible to suspend or interrupt the firmware update process if a read or write command is directed to the storage drive. Interrupting the firmware update process, however, introduces the risk of corrupting the firmware of the device, which could render the device inoperable.